So as I normally do before writing these blogs, I went through my pictures to see what I did the past few weeks. The answer: not too much.

To be honest my free time has been piled high with personal errands. I've been on a sort of "Let's make sure I'm good medically" kind of spree lately, doing a series of checkups and vaccinations. Because hey, it's really cheap over here. (and sometimes free!) Not to mention visa issues, which have always been a giant pain in the ass for Thailand.

But probably the biggest occupier of my time lately is my school. Not my work school, but school school. I decided to go back to get my Masters degree, and managed to find a university in America that has a degree specifically in ESL. I had to do a lot of searching to find a university that I could afford, was able to fit my unique requirements, and a program that would benefit me. Then after all that, tracking down a paperwork trail that began 15 years ago, tax forms for grants/scholarships, you name it. Anyway that fun starts next week and should be a major part of my life for the next 1 to 1.5 years, which I'm not exactly looking forward to. But, I think a MA in ESL would look pretty good on a CV, and probably open up a lot of opportunities in Europe and other ESL markets generally off-limits to the "Do it for a year" backpacker crowd.

Speaking of jobs, I haven't spoken about my new one yet. It's an unusual sort of thing, a blend of webmaster and English teacher. Basically I have 250 or so students that maintain blogs, I give them subjects to write about, and then grade them on it. While this does mean I have to read 250 blogs a week, it's an interesting conduit into an average Thai teenager's mind. Or at least a female one, since it's an all girls school. While I really appreciated most of my students at my last job, this one really takes it up a notch. They're all extremely well behaved, and the average level of English is much higher. I've learned their opinion on government, women's rights, and GMO foods, which is something I don't even know Ella's opinions on. Plus the management is much improved, communicative, and a pleasure to work with, which is always a good thing.

So, as far as travel, I don't know how this occurred, but Ella has not been to a few places around Bangkok that I have been many times, most within my first day of arriving. For example Wat Saket, aka The Golden Mount. It was the first place I visited in Bangkok, and yet somehow she missed it. Also Wat Rakhangkhositraram Woramahavihan, because brevity is for chumps. It's a local curiosity, a wat along the river that a ton of pigeons hang out at. Which is usually a reason to avoid a place, but it's seriously a lot of godamn pigeons. So, here we are. We also managed to take a day trip up to Ayutthaya, to go around and see all those old ruins from the comfort of a motor scooter. One which I am driving legally now, thanks to renewing my American Driver's License. Anyway I've written about Ayutthaya many times, and those 700 year old ruins haven't changed in the past few months.

Maybe more interesting is that on the 5th floor of a mall in the Japanese district, Bangkok has winter. Supposedly it's meant to be a village from Hokkaido, they spread around fake snow to make a play area surrounded by cafes. It's not too large, and the snow has a snowcone sort of consistency, but it's still an amusing sort of thing that's pretty unique. Other than that we've just been being social. It seems in this past month or so, my circle of friends has really expanded in size. Saturday has been "the night" to go out and do stuff, and pretty much every Saturday has involved some sort of drinking nonsense. It's really refreshing to have a close group of friends, and I am starting to really cherish those Saturdays. In particular this most recent Saturday, was a language exchange meetup that I thoroughly enjoyed. Everyone there was super friendly and awesome, at a really cool bar, and just a pleasure to talk to.

And now you're pretty much caught up on my life. Unfortunately I think photos from travels abroad are going to be hard to come by for a while. The Thai school schedule and American one don't really line up, so getting time off from both is going to be difficult. Assuming it does happen, the two things on the list are going back to Vietnam (to do it properly), and visiting Ella's hometown in southern China. Both are quite appealing to me, and I really hope it can happen at some point. Hopefully during Songkran (April), because I do not want to be anywhere near this country when that rolls around again. Last year I ran away to Myanmar, which was a pretty great decision. Although really anywhere you can walk around without being water raped has one up on Thailand during that time.

Hey, back in Asia! Where am I again! Vietnam, right?

So let's talk about Vietnam. My home is Bien Hoa, a small town on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City. And when I say outskirts... wow? Even more so than Thailand, HCMC is city city city and then suddenly, like someone drew a line in the sand, suddenly not city. (Limited) Bus travel ends at 530, there are no stores aside from the mom and pop places (alright, there is a KFC but c'mon, this is Asia). Consequently getting around is pretty difficult without a personal vehicle. There are some good points though. The school looks great, and it's in walking distance. There are a number of mom and pop restaurants, serving up bowls of stuff for a pretty cheap rate. My house is more like a mansion, with a sprawling living room and kitchen, complete with a "garage"... for a motorbike.

Still, a garage. Look who's Mister 1%.

So, about HCMC. Roommate Chloe and I grabbed the bus into town, starting out at the Reunification Palace. The former home of the South Vietnamese President, the war basically ended when a tank crashed through the gate here. It's pretty much exactly the same as it was 40 years ago, complete with 70s era decor. It's like if your grandma was put in charge of interior decoration. There was also a bunker downstairs filled with old radio equipment, maps, and other random cool things. Also, the Vietnamese word for "bunker" is apparently "Ham", which made for some chuckles on the bilingual "Ham Bunker" signs.

After, it was onto the War Remnants Museum. Basically the "Hey. The Americans Were Dicks." Museum. I mean, it's like the Rape of Nanjing Museum (Actually no, nothing is as bad as that). It's a masochistic kind of curiosity, made a little more real because it's "my" country that's presented in a negative light. There was a bit of a propaganda tint to it, but that's not an excuse to make up for the fact that America messed up pretty bad there. I suppose war is never a clean affair, and you can always pick out examples to show what you want. But there are some horrible examples of "what not to do", because it's only going to cause people to hate you more. And there was a lot of that going on, especially with the chemical defoliants and their effects on the general population. And even if just 1% of the crazy preserved fetuses were caused by those chemicals, that's 1% too many. Oddly enough I didn't take any photos there, mostly because it would just be photos of photos. But there were some interesting physical things there, like some vintage military hardware and small arms.

After, it was a trip to Ben Thanh Market for some old fashioned Asian haggling. In particular I wanted some Oolong Tea, and there was no shortage. From a high of 250,000 VND ($11.50) down to 80,000, my haggling ability remains intact. Wanting to insert a bit of levity after the museum, I joked with one of the more persistent vendors I was looking for a Vietnamese wife. He pointed out this younger shopkeeper a few paces away, and they shot back and forth in Vietnamese about this crazy foreigner. At one point, a pregnant woman stood up and said "Hey! (gesturing to her baby) Buy one get one free!"

Now in fits of laughter, Chloe and I headed out to see the Post Office. An odd tourist sight, but a really impressive building across from another equally impressive Cathedral. It looks like this post office has not changed in over 100 years, but it is still active and working. There's not much more to say about it except it was like a step back in time and a pleasure to see.

Then back we went, and work orientation started. We learned about our classes, I quit my job, we found a nice coffee shop, yadda yadda.

Backing up, let me tell you about this coffee shop! Nah seriously, I quit my job and went back to Bangkok. I know this was quite a decision, and really nobody was as surprised as I was. Basically, I had a "chance" to stay in my room for 3 days straight with dodgy electricity. And instead of just browsing the internet endlessly (alright, I did do that on the first day), I uncharacteristically didn't feel like doing anything and just think. Just sit in the dark and think. And I thought about the way my life was going, and I decided it wasn't going exactly what I wanted. I think I just kept myself busy and doing stuff enough that I never let myself think. So I tried to think about the times I was happiest. Going to away to college was pretty high up there. Deciding to travel and teach was pretty high up there. Being with Ella was pretty high up there. Unfortunately I can't go back to being 20 anymore and I already left America. But maybe if I'm really lucky I could go back to being with Ella. And I got really lucky when she decided that she would take me back. And I've come back to Thailand with a fresh mind, with a new home, new job, I'm trying to shake things up to make things feel fresh. That time the taxi driver tried to steal my rice cooker? That time the taxi ran over my bike? That time that taxi driver tried to not use the meter? That time the taxi shortchanged me? That was Thailand 1.0, this is 2.0. And to top it all off, I still get to do all the things I wanted to do (live in Asia, travel the world, try new beers, sing karaoke, be an idiot), but I get to do it with my best friend. So right now, this is exactly where my travels should take me.